1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk cartridge and a disk recording/reproducing apparatus, and more particularly, to a disk cartridge and a disk recording/reproducing apparatus which are designed to effectively remove foreign materials from the surface of a disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, a typica1 disk cartridge 1 for housing a disk 2, such as an optical disk or a magnetic disk, has a shutter 3 slidably installed at one side of the disk cartridge, such that a disk recording/reproducing apparatus can record data to and reproduce data from the disk 2 by accessing the disk using its header (not shown) while selectively opening or closing the shutter 3.
However, since it is common that no protective layers are formed on the disk 2 housed in the disk cartridge 1, a foreign material such as fine dust attached on the surface of the disk 2 is very likely to cause serious errors during recording and reproduction of information to and from the disk. Also, in the case of a disk that is not housed in a cartridge and has a protective layer formed on the disk, a foreign material attached on the surface of the disk is very likely to cause errors during recording and reproduction of information to and from the disk. However, particularly, the disk 2, which is housed in the cartridge 1 without protective layers, has a greater possibility of errors being generated due to attachment of a foreign material to the surface of the disk 2.
In order to reduce the possibility of generating errors in the conventional art, a cleaning apparatus, as shown in FIGS. 1 through 3, is installed in the cartridge 1 to remove a foreign material from the surface of the disk 2. The cleaning apparatus includes a support arm 4 rotatably installed in the cartridge 1, a cleaning member 5 installed in the support arm 4 to contact the surface of the disk 2, and a 1ever 6 protruding outside the cartridge 1 so that a user may rotate the support arm 4. Thus, upon cleaning, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the support arm 4 is rotated over the disk 2 so that the cleaning member 5 contacts the disk 2 while it rotates, thus removing a foreign material from the surface of the disk 2. Upon recording/reproducing, as shown in FIG. 2, the support arm 4 is then rotated in the opposite direction so that the cleaning member 5 does not disturb the disk 2.
However, in the above-described disk cartridge, a separate cleaning apparatus, as described above, must be insta11ed in the cartridge 1 so that the number of component parts increases, and also the thickness of the cartridge 1 must be increased. Thus, the conventional disk cartridge is disadvantageous for the purpose of condensing a disk recording/reproducing apparatus. Also, in the case of disks having no protective layers formed thereon, the conventional disk cartridge can cause serious errors to the disk 2 when the cleaning member 5 directly contacts the surface of the disk 2.
Therefore, a disk cartridge capable of removing foreign materials from the surface of a disk in a non-contact manner, while protecting the surface of the disk, is required.